LEMONT – When he joined the Cub Scouts in first grade, Kevin Leahy set the goal to become an Eagle Scout.

“I have three older cousins who are all Eagle Scouts ,and it really made me want to achieve that,” he said.

Leahy had two Eagle Scout projects fall through before he completed renovations to the conference room at Lemont United Methodist Church. That project took three revisions and a year-and-a-half of planning to complete.

The renovations, which were conducted April 5 to 14, included framing and dry walling the concrete block room, installing closets and shelves, staining and hanging the wainscoting and painting the walls.

In order to finance the project, Leahy approached a number of area stores for donations. He also did odd jobs such as yard work to earn the approximately $2,000 needed to complete the project.

Leahy came up with his first Eagle Scout project idea in seventh grade. He wanted to build benches and put out garbage cans for the nature area on the west side of Timberline Drive near the Community Center.

After that project fell through, he approached Lemont United Methodist Church, which initially wanted him to build an additional shed. He had started planning for the project when the church council changed its mind. He went back to the church, which came up with the conference room project.

“I learned more through the failed attempts of the project,” he said. “Just rethinking it and trying to figure out how to make it work.”

While completing his project, Leahy watched his older brother, Kevin, finish his own Eagle Scout project.